LSA Marching Dodo Nibbles Tray SQ mini

This delightful Marching Dodo Tile appears in Canon Hall, Barnsley in the De Morgan Collection.

This mini “nibbles” tray is perfect for a liquid refreshment and an appetiser; perhaps an early morning cleansesr, sweet elevenses or a bedtime cocoa?
Dimensions: 15 x 15 x 2cm
Material: Glossy, Melamine

About the Artwork
This Marching Dodo Artwork is decorated with gold, copper and silver lustre highlights on an underglaze base. These metals all have different melting temperature and must be fired separately; accordingly, this tile would have been fired 6 times. The tiles produced with this method are rare as it was challenging and expensive to produce. Whilst De Morgan often bought blank tiles from other tile manufactures to decorate, this earthenware tile base was made by De Morgan's own pottery.

Reverse impress mark DM98, dates the tile to De Morgan's pottery in Sands End, Fulham in 1898.

The dodo was popularised in the Victorian era by the writer, Lewis Carroll who featured the flightless bird in Alice in Wonderland. This extinct flightless bird was endemic to the island of Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean. Over-harvesting of the birds, combined with habitat loss and a losing competition with the newly introduced animals, was too much for the dodos to survive. The last dodo was killed in 1681, and the species was lost forever to extinction and a lesson to be learnt.

Marching Dodo design is protected by UK Design Registration No. 6355857.